


A Little Less Lonely, A Little More Loved

by EmilliaGryphon



Series: Guardians of the Galaxy One Shots [10]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), MCU, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, gotg
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Affection, Platonic Love, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-01 14:54:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12707226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilliaGryphon/pseuds/EmilliaGryphon
Summary: The gang has had a long rewarding day. It's time for bed, Rocket actually speaks his heart.





	A Little Less Lonely, A Little More Loved

Rocket bit his lip, wrapping the bandage around his left arm. Out the small round window of the Milano the stars blazed in greens, blues, violets and pinks one of the more pleasant parts of the fourth quadrant. He finished off wrapping the wound and turned once more to the brown sack on the floor. The raccoon grinned at the pile of units, 50,000 of them for the job they’d just pulled. Sure he had to come up with another escape plan when they got caught and had to improvise a gun when his was shot out of his hand but they all made it out more or less unscathed and got paid. All in all, a good day. Drax had even cooked dinner for them. Rocket had to admit it was a tasty stew, abet the odd viscus texture. 

Rocket glanced over his shoulder, Groot sat against the far wall, looking up at the skylight. Catching him the flora colossus adjusted himself and let his arms down into his lap: a silent invitation. Rocket smiled despite himself, his joints aching from the long day. He crossed their small shared room and punched the lock, sending the door sliding shut. Only then did he settle himself in his friend’s lap.  
   
“I am Groot,” Rocket nodded.

“It was a long day. Long, but good.” Groot nodded looking once more up at the dancing stars against a pitch-dark sky. Rocket watched the stars as they made their way across the galaxy so small but so…beautiful. A warmth crept into his mind and Rocket found his tail and limbs become heavy. He leaned back against the familiar wooden chest.

Groot’s vines tighten around him gingerly. Rocket slowly moved himself on to his side, facing in to Groot’s chest. An instinctual position of comfort. With heavy lids, Rocket felt long wooden fingers caress through his fur, carefully avoiding the cybernetics in his back. On the metal grating floors of the ship, the stars reflected like light under the water in many colors. As Groot held him gently, Rocket found his mind slowly fade into a fuzzy welcome haze of sleepy content. No nightmares tonight, he never had nightmares when he slept like this, he smiled, burrowing further into Groot’s chest. In response his friend gently wound his vines snuggly around him. Rocket sighed, breathing out the whole day. 

“I’d go through it again yah know?” He found himself whispering.

“I am Groot?” His friend looked down at him. 

“Halfworld. The experiments, the tests,” he managed to say as simply as ever. As though it were no big deal. “I want yah to know that Groot.” Rocket tilted his head up to look at the Flora colossus who continued to run his long tendrils between Rocket’s ears and down his back. “The only good thing about that place was you. Meeting you Groot and….I’d go through it again if I had to. If it meant meeting you.” His claws absentmindedly scratched lightly at Groot’s bark. “I just…want yah to know that…cuz I don’t say this stuff often…” he briefly looked at the stars above, “don’t say it nearly as often as I should to you so…so I just want you to know..”  
Groot reached out a single vine, touching Rocket’s chin and making him look up at him, meeting his gaze. Those soulful profound eyes that held so much within them. The vines around Rocket lifted, pulling the raccoon upward until his muzzle rested perfectly in the crook of Groot’s shoulder and neck. The tree’s embrace held Rocket to him, Rocket’s small claws clutched on to Groot’s bark never wanting to let go. For now he didn’t have to.

“I am Groot,” Groot whispered, one large hand cradling the back of Rocket’s head and back, securing him in place. Rocket made a sound something between a sigh and a purr of contentment. One of the few times he made any raccoon like noises. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly, fully. Sleep becoming tranquility. 

Peter backed up, looking down through the metal grating at the scene below. He smiled to himself. So Rocket did have a heart. The idea of blackmail long since entered and passed through his mind. Instead he reached for his cassette deck and turned it on. Just the thing for that “sappy friendship feeling shit” Rocket liked to harp on about. It carried them through the night, both the raccoon and the tree sleeping uninterrupted.   


End file.
